#* technically it's counterspell in game

[greyias]

Still poking my way very slowly through Act 1 of BG3 with my half-elf pally girl, Aravyn, and just had the best series of quests/encounters that hit me a little in the feels.

So, long long ago, when WotC was starting to play test 5e, I started to attend some D&D Encounter sessions at a local comic/game shop, where we'd use some random pre-rolled character sheets to play. And I got handed the following:

This randomized Paladin who, for some reason, was also a wandering minstrel. I got to play her for all of one session, and unfortunately never was able to attend any more sessions (for reasons). Yet this yodeling Paladin has lived rent-free in my head for years, but had never found a group to play with in the years following.

So when I realized that I might be able to bring a version of her to life in BG3, I leapt on the chance and gave her the Entertainer background, and despaired a little that I couldn't multiclass her into Bard in Explorer Mode (although there is a mod for that).

I found a lute on the beach, played it very badly in camp and got yelled at by Lae'zel for it. And then, I wandered a little bit outside of the Druid's camp, to find a Tiefling bard singing so badly a bunch of squirrels were wailing with despair.

Having failed so spectacularly in serenading the camp, it would have been smart for poor Aravyn to just talk her way through this encounter. But here she was, being offered a lute and a chance to inspire someone with music.

And she knocked it out of the park -- being gifted the lute of the bard's deceased lover mentor as thanks for helping her break out of writer's block. (I mean, I get it. I feel that pain Alfira)

Mood™

Right afterwards, because I refuse to take a long rest while still full up on spell slots, I kept the party exploring, and encountered the harpy ambush at the beach. And we died. A lot. Especially in a frontal assault. So finally as a last ditch effort before having to put off saving the tiny child being lured in as a harpy snack for a better leveled party, I just had Aravyn sneak up behind and yeet herself from the harpy nest straight at the beasty ladies on the rock where they were hiding.

As you do.

Anyway, Shadowheart joined her, because what else should a healer do but leap into the fray and harm's way? (there was no way this was going to work, so what did I have to lose but my pride, I told myself) And as both holy ladies started swinging away wildly while the warlock and wizard looked on from above, I found myself wishing I really had some levels in bard in order to use countersong* to nullify the crooning harpy below slowly luring a little tiefling child to his doom.

After exhausting all actions and bonus actions, and since I had Lihala's lute already equipped with nothing else to do in between rounds I was like "...fuck it, we rock", and started blasting a song.

My Paladin, apparently, while fighting a bunch of harpies.

And I don't know if it was just a quirk of the dice rolls, but it worked. On his next round, the tiefling child immediately was able to break free of the song, which was the first time that had happened in all five tries and started running the fuck away. And I was like "...wait what?" and so after kicking ass on the next round, played again. And he was able to resist again and kept running further away while the harpies were distracted tearing the party to pieces.

No one in the party got charmed while Aravyn was playing her heart out, and by guzzling a lot of healing potions, they were able to just manage to squeak out a win. Bloodied and burning through all of their spell slots, they were victorious.

Uh, so yeah. Apparently I unintentionally recreated the end of season 4 of Stranger Things (with less tragedy!), and saved a little kid with the power of rock and roll while using the lute of slain bard. And damn, if that's not a true D&D experience I don't know what is. So I think it's safe to say that Larian has been able to somewhat recapture some of that lightning in a bottle feeling of playing a tabletop RPG in this game.

(even if that was all luck of dice rolls and playing the lute did nothing, I'm headcanoning Ari was channeling Lihala's spirit, because that's a far better story)

[dravidious]

You're the

WINNER! :D

[flightyquinn]

Letting Players Feel Smart in Combat

or, "Running Encounters with an Information Economy"

PREAMBLE: Something that frustrated me for a long time as a player in TTRPGs was how hard it could be to guess enemy tactics. There are a lot of things that you can do with good tactics, but a lot of the time you lack the information to use those tactics. For example, setting up a prepared action to counterspell just wastes your turn if nobody tries to cast anything. This can be especially frustrating when you're up first in the initiative, and don't have much more than just a description of who/what you're fighting to go off of.

AN ANECDOTE: One day I decided to try an experiment. Each round of combat was supposed to be happening in the same six seconds of elapsed time, right? So, the next time I went first, I asked my GM if I could see what the enemies were doing - everything was happening at the same time, so I should be able to read their body language, the directions they were starting to move, and where they were looking to get an idea of how they were going to act, right?

As I honestly had been expecting, my GM said no. It wasn't their turn yet, so they weren't doing anything yet. I resolved that I did not want to run my own games that way, so I came up with some ways that when I ran a game, I could help my players to not be going into battle completely blind.

THE POINT: Tipping players off to enemy tactics is just good GMing. When they get a "read" on an enemy, they'll feel like an absolute genius. When the party plans for what the enemy will do and uses tactics to put the odds in their favor, they will lose their minds over how cool they feel. Here's a couple things I do to make that happen.

The first is giving enemies tells for what they're planning, which sounds simple, but actually requires a change to how encounters are typically run. Basically, you should know what an enemy will do before their turn, and typically at the end of the last one. Then you narrate them doing something to hint at that as part of their action. For example, a dragon might inhale deeply before using its breath weapon, or a manticore might slowly go from lashing its tail from side to side to holding it stiff as it prepares to launch a volley of spikes.

You don't have to stay committed to a course of action once you've given a tell, but if the players do something that would cause an enemy to reconsider its tactics (or determine them, if you hadn't decided anything for it yet), that's another time to give a tell. For instance, you might have already described a dire wolf lowering on its haunches as it starts stalking toward the ranger, ready to pounce, when the halfling rogue stops taking cover behind the fighter. In that case, you might describe the dire wolf shifting its stance, licking its lips as it turns its attention to this weaker-looking prey.

There's no need to give a tell for every action, of course. That would get taxing for you, and tedious for the party. Generously sprinkling in clues as to key things enemies want to do can keep players engaged, and help them break through the indecision about what to do with their own turns, though.

That brings me to my other trick. If you read the anecdote section above, this is something I came up with as a direct result of that. I decided to add a special action type that is just for the players, the "Observe Action". Every player gets one Observe Action on each of their turns that they can use in a number of ways to get more information about the conditions on the battlefield, or to gain an advantage.

The first use is just applying their skills in the normal way. If they could use a skill to recall information about a particular creature, they now do this as an Observe Action. This one is technically an explicit nerf in Pathfinder, since recalling is stated to be no action, but I find that most groups only check on one monster at a time anyway, and on the occasions when they don't, starting combat with check spam just slows the action down, so I include it. It usually doesn't hurt anything, and having it on the list can actually remind players that doing this is a thing they can do in the first place.

The second is also more or less a bookkeeping task, and that's using informational magic, like the Detect spells. It doesn't change the cast time, but once the spell is up, any further focus to gain more information uses their Observe Action. This is mostly just to remind players they can have these going while they fight, but I do also make any part of using the spell once cast that would normally be a Standard Action into an Observe instead, as a small bonus.

The third use, and the first truly new option, is to "read" a group. This is similar to recalling information, but allows for some different questions to be asked. Use these as a baseline.

Who has the highest/lowest HP?

Who can deal the most damage with physical attacks.

Who has the highest bonus to hit?

General "lean" of the group's alignment. (Most common alignment component on a single axis.)

How challenging does this fight look? (General CR range of the encounter, described as Easy, Average, Challenging, etc...)

Individual with the highest/lowest value in a particular ability score.

Highest/lowest value in a particular saving throw.

Basically, this option is there to help players decide who to focus their attention on. Let them use it for whatever will help them get a better idea of who or what they're facing. Let them ask their main question up-front before rolling to establish the check (whatever skill and DC seems appropriate), but let them ask additional questions after if they get a high roll.

It goes hand in hand with the last option, which is gauging intent. This one should probably be done with Insight/Sense Motive, and it just comes down to that original question. What's going to happen next?

The first way this can work is that the player focuses on a specific enemy, and gets a sense of what that enemy specifically intends to do. In other words, the player tells you who they want to get a "tell" for, and if they succeed, you give it to them.

Alternatively, the player might ask if anyone in the enemy group is about to take a specific action. For example, "Is the cleric about to get targeted." or "Does anyone look like they're going to call for backup?" So basically, instead of focusing on the behavior of one individual, the player is staying alert for a particular situation. Don't let the players get too broad with this one, of course, but it's okay to be a little generous with what they can ask about.

Even more than when I advised it above, if someone successfully gauges the intent of their enemy, and that intent changes, let them know. You should treat a success as them continuing to be alert to what they were observing for until their next turn.

I also toyed with the idea of letting players use their Observation to look for openings to improve their chance of hitting, or for a weak spot to do more damage. I like the idea of this, but felt like it stepped on the toes of other, existing options too much, and would be too tempting to players over the other uses. So I decided to keep Observation Actions as purely a source of information, and not directly pumping numbers. Still, if it sounds like it would work for you, try it out.

For everyone who read this incredibly long post of mine, I hope it helps you out. I haven't done a post like this in a long time, and I really appreciate you taking the time to read it. If these rules improve anyone else's games, hearing that would really make my day.

[pixelmator5]

Since no one else brought it up, likely because it changed nothing about the encounter, I feel like bringing it up. This may just be the way I was taught to play DnD by my early DMs, but in counterspell chains, you're supposed to announce you're casting it before who your counterspelling rolls (if they have to roll at all.) This was a rule likely done to prevent waiting to see if it succeeded.

For example, let's say someone counterspelled a Teleport spell at lets say level 4. If someone wanted to counterspell it at 3rd level, they'd have to do so before that person rolls to see if they succeed. They then have to roll to see if they succeed, if they don't, the original counterspell rolls, and if they don't, the teleport goes through.

In the case of the Ludinus v. Laudna counterspell, Laudna cast it at 3rd level, stated by Marisha when asked by Matt, which means she'd have to roll against Ludinus' 9th level (what I believe to be) Weird spell. However, instead of waiting for Laudna's roll, if Ludinus wanted to counterspell it, he should do it before Laudna rolled, and since he did it at the same level as Laudna, Laudna would've been automatically countered, no roll involved.

So technically, Mr. Mercer (I don't know why tf I called him that but oh well) made two mistakes within less than a minute of each other. Only one if the first part I mentioned isn't an official rule and just how I was taught to play the game. But still, the first rule being broken only to be immediately followed by the misuse of the second rule to get the same outcome is rather fitting.

Edit: I want to make it clear this isn't bashing Matt or any of the cast, I was merely stating an observation I made during my watch of the episode

[niuttuc]

New “budget” Commander cards: Lord of the Rings: White

You know these by now, we'll go color by color, mixing main set and commander set. Reprints can be included if they brought the price down under our bar. All the cards presented here are under $2 at time of writing. Cards will be evaluated as part of the 99, even legendary creatures.

We start with a 6-drop, but one that's quite good, introducing the monarchy and protecting it all at once with a tax. With how many cards commander players like to draw, I would be surprised if that tax was often under four mana, and that's a lot of mana to attack you. And if you lose the monarchy anyway, then players are still incentivized to not attack you because they want the monarchy. A solid card, though the high mana cost will limit the decks that can afford to run it.

Squeezing by right under the $2 price at time of writing, Boromir is just a solid card all around. Saccing to give your board indestructible is fantastic for three mana (the golden rate for this is Selfless Spirit at 2, but we don't have other options that cheap and in one color). The body is already very solidly on rate as a 3/3 vigilance. And you get extra upside with the hatebear text that'll mostly stop cascade and any free counterspell shenanigans, and only affects opponents. Unlike indestructible spells, it is a creature, easy to bring back to the board and providing presence and defense there.

The only downside of this card is probably the ring tempting you meaning you need to keep track of it in your otherwise unrelated commander deck. But that does ALSO enable an infinite combo with Boromir and Ratadrabik of Urborg to sac infinite Boromirs, have your board permanently indestructible and also trigger any etb or death triggers infinitely. So, be aware of that I guess?

Do you gain life? Does your commander have 3+ power and lifelink? Here you go, card draw. Not even limited to your end step, so if you can eat food or otherwise gain life around the table, you'll be drawing plenty of cards.

Listen, Remand isn't the best counterspell in commander, far from it. But this is by far the best way for White to interact with the stack, and that's an ability that's incredibly rare and powerful outside of blue. So many games end with a Torment of Hailfire, Insurrection, Cyclonic Rift or similar spell that can only really be answered by a counterspell, and Reprieve will at the least greatly reduce the damage, and at its best give the table a turn to deal with the offending player.

Rosie is a solid token card, but let's not kid ourselves, if she's here, it's that she's now the simplest and cheapest option to go infinite with Scurry Oak (and Herd Baloth) in Selesnya colors, and offers further redundancy for those combos. If you're already running those, grab yourself a Rosie and make your decks more consistent.

I'm not only putting Sam here because he's next to Rosie, but he's in general a pretty useful card. Flash is incredible to keep him versatile and he can bring any permanent back from a creature that died to a board wipe to a fetchland you just cracked to, if you're feeling nasty, a Mindslaver. He's cheap so it's easy to keep the two mana, and since that effect is on a creature ETB (and a 2-drop at that), it is very easy to use it multiple times via blinking, reanimation, or more. Same as Boromir, the Ring temptation might actually be more of an annoyance than the small upside it provides, but technically it is an upside.

Damn, Roon got so outclassed. While she only targets your own creatures, being able to pick between returning the creature now or at end of turn is HUGE, even without the extra abilities she provides (and lifelink+vigilance is very relevant to stay alive). Being able to return immediately means you get to immediately trigger etbs even in the middle of combat, untap a blocker, or just dodge a targeted removal if you want. Being able to return at end of turn means you can use it to dodge literally every board wipe in the game, from Blasphemous Act to Farewell. Being able to CHOOSE which you want is incredibly powerful. Needing to keep up 2 mana for a blink might seem like a lot, but that kind of flexibility isn't something we see often.

Despite my love of Sagas, I will say, this card is not as strong as it looks at first reading. Or rather, it is, but that's an issue. A four-mana tutor isn't particularly efficient. Two tutors is a bit more interesting, it makes this card advantage and great card selection. And that last chapter is quite the finisher.

But it's a scary finisher the entire table can see two turn cycles in advance, so in reality it probably just forces a board wipe right before the last chapter, or to kill you.

With that said, if you have enough legendary creatures this offers flexibility, I would consider this. Sometimes they won't have it, and hey, they need to cast that board wipe at some point anyway, right? Might as well get it out of the way and have two legends to start rebuilding.

This common is the most efficient we've ever seen a disenchant on a body, among plenty of options in white and green. The free activation makes it particularly interesting when bringing this back regularly. With that said, it is very much balanced by the timing restriction on the ability, forcing you to think ahead about what will be the problem and not allowing you to stop combos or effects deployed until you get back to your turn.

For some decks, it'll be worth the mana saved, and more options is always more better. With that said, I think most decks will stick with Cathar Commando, and if they have access to green, Cankerbloom, Haywire Mite and Outland Liberator. The new options we're getting for that slot are very good, and this isn't any different.

Closing things off with a reprint, this is the first time Weathered Wayfarer has been reprinted in a widely distributed product that's not at a very inflated price in over 15 years, and such it has fallen in price to a low not seen in a long long while, under $1. This card's ability to tutor nonbasics on a 1-drop makes him quite powerful, from providing Ramp with a Nykthos, enabling white catchup ramp (and himself!) by grabbing bouncelands and Lotus Field, doing cheeky land stuff like Dark Depths+Thespian's Stage, getting cards in hand to loot away, or just simply never missing a land drop. It was a $10 card for years and years for a reason, and the two latest reprint brought him down to a very budget-friendly 70 cents at time of writing. Grab one, you won't be disappointed!

[gynandromorph]

i respec'd uh-oh to be a bardadin -- pal 2/swords bard All Other Levels. she is severely lacking mobility in a way i feel deeply when my other melee character primarily throws for damage and my casters are obviously ranged. i don't mind that she has to get in enemies' faces; she just has no fucking way to do it. no misty step spell, no nothing. she can waste a whole turn using an arrow of transposition, but this brings up another problem with her build: she doesn't really use her bonus actions for anything except smites and jumps, and she has to be in-range to smite.

vengeance, her oath, gets misty step, but at level 7, which would deprive me of the magical secrets bards only get at level 10. the other reason i wanted to dip all the way into bard is because she ends up with more spell slots in general for smites. i tried a wizard and sorcerer multiclass, and iirc bard got me more slots because the sword bar gives me an extra attack without forcing me into 5 levels of paladin. the flourishes are nice; you can use a slashing flourish to hit 2 enemies at once, and the game allows you to apply divine smite to both of them.

technically, i could take misty step with magical secrets. if the scrolls weren't such a pain in the ass to find, it wouldn't be a huge deal. i usually jump for counterspell and haste, but i find myself not really casting haste much due to a stock of speed potions. counterspell + misty step is pretty underwhelming for magical secrets, especially because magical secrets is the ONLY way to unlock banishing smite -- a traditionally level 17 paladin spell. maybe i'll just suck it up and start remembering to chug glorious vaulting and flight potions and run banishing smite + counterspell lmao. i also handed her a bow that allows you to cast haste once every long rest, so she technically HAS access to haste already, on top of my twin hasting sorcerer and shadowheart.

i also tried warlock (i ended up opening my finished #feminism paladin file and respec'd her repeatedly to see what i had to work with, but there's no way to practice battle to test out builds) but i was really underwhelmed. even IF the extra attack from the pact weapon stacks with the extra attack from paladin, i don't even have enough spell slots to smite every hit for A SINGLE ROUND. i am firmly of the belief that the ENTIRE POINT of paladin is to do massive damage with smites. if i wanted to hit without smites, i would just play a fighter. on top of that, it has you then use your charisma modifier instead of your strength modifier with the pact weapon, which is like. can you show me the potions that set your charisma to 27 until long rest? hm?????? why would i want to use charisma for my melee damage when there are very abundant, massive buffs to strength even from act 1. and yeah i have to drink an elixir every morning but i have to rebind my pact weapon every morning anyway.

lae'zel, meanwhile, i spec'd into a throw build between frenzy barb, for the enraged throws and damage resistance, and rogue, for the extra bonus action. she would benefit from levels in fighter. it works great, i have no complaints. i miss battle master maneuvers, but i could give a couple of those to uh-oh through a feat.

jesster still a sorcerer primarily with a 2-level dip into warlock for the cantrip -- i really wasn't expecting much but it honestly fucks severely now that i have the potent robes and i think some other piece of equipment that adds charisma modifier to cantrips as well. they genuinely usually do more damage with eldritch blast than magic missile, the build they were designed for, but EB isn't out of place with the buffs for MM, and the 100% hit chance of MM is always welcome. it's a lot easier to roll with the punches even if i'm low on slots with a cantrip that can do SOME damage and it makes using haste a lot more viable. i ended up rarely if ever using darkness, so i removed it and swapped devil's sight for repelling blast. better to use a lv 2 slot on invisibility than darkness maybe.

shadowheart is the same. i'm thinking of dipping more into wizard for counterspell, which you can't find as a scroll. i would be sacrificing natural chain lightning, but it's easy enough to just. acquire a billion chain lightning scrolls -- better than spell slot chain lightning even, because you can do it multiple times. because the issue with honor mode is "whether you die or not" and not "how many enemies you can kill," i feel like counterspell is just. more important. it's Really Important to be able to instantly shut down an attack that might have shredded your entire party's HP down to 30% imo. that and shield which i've shoved on all of my party members except lae'zel.

[coreyww]

The Owl House Except Everyone Plays Magic the Gathering AU

[Part One: More to come but this post was getting long with just what I have SO FAR]

Luz early-Season One:

Playstyle: “Five Color Good Stuff” / Lots of Janky Bullshit

Takes lands out of her deck to make room for better cards which she cannot play because her mana base ends up being just two tap lands and a Snow Mountain.

“Okay so how does the Stack work again? Okay got it” Doesn’t get it at all.

Says “HAHAHA you’ve activated my Trap Card” whenever she plays anything 100% of the time.

Eda

Playstyle: Spellslinger / Storm / "Chaos, if you're feeling nasty"

Runs the game shop

Unclear if she actually owns the building or has just squatted there for God Knows How Long 

Tries to pretend she doesn’t know or care much about playing MtG, is actually a gigantic nerd about it

“Still can’t believe they banned ante just because that’s technically and factually illegal. Pffft. Cowards”

Keeps trying to teach the actual children how to cheat at actual gambling but she’s mostly kidding (…probably)

“Awww it does my heart good to see you kids have a good time hehe…now buy a collectors booster or get out, I’ve got bills to pay, kid”

Willow

Playstyle: Tap Forest Followed by Curbstomp

Every deck has Green in it. All of them. If she ever had to play a deck with a land base of only Wastes, she’d somehow find a way to make it generate Green mana.

Her spirit animals are Rampant Growth, Giant Growth, and Llanowar Elves.

Doesn’t look like much at first until does some infinite mana bullshit, does a ridiculous amount of damage, and obliterates an opponent and all the hopes and dreams they ever had without mercy.

“It just makes sproutling tokens, what are you even worried about?” is the sound you hear before you die

Make a shitty comment about her friends during her game and she’ll Trample and Double Strike you in Real Life

Amity early-Season One

Playstyle: Blue Mana / Artifact Shenanigans / All Manner of Control Fuckery

A total Spike

Is rich and thus plays Modern

Good at the game but in an assholy kinda way.

Decks are loaded with $50+ cards.

Memorizes every spoiler card before Prerelease. Not an exaggeration, literally takes the time to actually memorize them.

“Wow, that’s a good spell ... how sad for you” (Casts Counterspell)

Gets cocky and toys with Luz during their first game until Luz gets the win and Amity has a mental breakdown in a very noticeable embarrassing way in the middle of the game store.

Gus

Playstyle: Flicker, Bounce, and Enter the Battlefield Triggers for Days

Doesn’t always win, but he has fun just watching something cool go off

Doesn’t have a lot of self confidence so their turns often take like over five minutes

Very excited about showing you the new sleeves and deck box he bought

“LUZ! YOU DID GREAT! I went 0-3 myself but who cares about that, look! I got a deckbox with Yargle on it! I don’t have a frog deck to put in it now, but when I do, watch out” (finger guns)

Belos

Playstyle: Thousand Dollar Decks Loaded with Nothing But Bullshit

(Posting on Reddit) “And that’s why proxies and casual play are ruining Magic the Gathering and new product shouldn’t be sent to stores that allow either. Furthermore, women—“

Motherfucker has the Power Nine in a Legacy deck and uses that shit against CHILDREN

He’ll use Mass Land Destruction, he don’t give a fuck

ALL the free Sac outlets, can’t get enough of that shit

“Surely you’re not afraid of a friendly casual game?” (Turn One: Black Lotus into Doomsday)

Seriously, fuck this guy

[magic-edh-talk]

What’s up people, I’m back (probably for a limited time)

I’ve recently reconciled my differences with tumblr, and after a long hiatus have been playing some Magic, and because I tend to obsess over things, I need to get my urge to buy cards out by building lots of fake decks.

So I’ve decided to give you a deck that takes terrible cards and turns them into sufferable cards. And by sufferable, I mean insufferable. For your opponent.

Welcome Obeka

Wizards of the Coast doesn’t realize how good being able to end the turn is, so they’ll put it on anything. Unfortunately because Sundial of the Infinite isn’t *technically* a legendary creature (it *can* get there, with some help) I haven’t been able to run a completely jank commander deck where I end my own turn over and over again.

Now you, my dear reader, may be thinking “why would you *intentionally* end your own turn prematurely?”

This is where it gets fun.

Luckily, this time WotC printed sundial as a legendary creature IN THREE COLORS. Colors which can do dirty terrible things (for a price). The purpose of ending the turn? To remove the (at a price) from that statement.

Take Eater of Days for example. Now, with modern power creep (and it has gotten out of hand since I’ve stopped playing, so forgive me if this cards is completely too mana intense these days) (anyways) Now, 4 colorless mana for a 9/8 is pretty okay. You get it out turn 4 or 5, it’s bigger than anything you will see for at least a few turns (or you’re playing against elves in which case, I’m sorry) and you can swing it around like a big stick with flying and trample until your opponents Doom Blade it or whatever removal you kids run these days. Probably you will do at least 15 damage with it though. But wait, you have to skip your next turn? and then your next turn again? Complete garbage. So bad you can scoop this card for about a dollar.

But what if instead, when it entered the battlefield, your turn suddenly and unstoppably ended, giving the stack the middle finger? Suddenly it’s turn 4, you have a 9/8 flying/trample out and you aren’t even playing green.

Have a problem? This deck says, if that problem happens on your turn it doesn’t happen at all.

Losing the game at end of turn because you had to cast Pact (pick one)? not anymore.

You have to sacrifice *whatever* it is at the end of your turn? nope.

you want to pull off a disgusting combo with Conjurer’s Closet and Wormfang Manta (you’re welcome for that idea) but you need a way to stop it from skipping a turn in the first place? Just end the turn.

Now, this is a risky deck, because you lose hard to removal, and while there is a single counterspell indicated, I recommend you run a lot because a path to exile will ruin your day before you can say “Black Lotus isn’t that good anymore anyways” or whatever the kids are saying these days. 1 white mana will turn your easy 9/8 leviathan into your worst enemy, so keep a few tricks up your sleeve. Hell, you can even run pact of negation and skip paying the mana when you just end the turn instead (If you’re really desperate).

Just remember to flex by ending your turn before you draw to really style on your opponent.

Have Fun kids.

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/29-12-21-obeka-brute-chronologist/?cb=1640760925

[paintedwarpony]

C2E123 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT

Nathaniel Nat20: Dodeca Heal Yourself

Marisha saying right away that she hates Nathaniel Nat20

"Just the appearance... for now."

Veth immediately resolving to use acid to solve the problem

Yasha JUMPING to stop Beau from letting herself be burned with acid

Travis: THAT WAS THE BIG FIX THAT WE HAD AND IT DIDN'T WORK

Aliooping acid

Matt: YOU SHOULD PROBABLY BE CARRYING AROUND A BASE IF YOU'RE CARRYING AROUND ACIDS

Midnight waffles

So much Travis

Exhaustion Point Gimme on Beau

"Its not a Wish..."

Yasha suggesting everyone of the Nein read the book 'a little bit'

*Om nom nom nom

Rolling an 8 on a d8

*D R A G O N

THE DRAGON BEING FUCKING GELIDON

The cataclysm bolt being a "ice arrow" on a white dragon

Travis vibing, just living his best life

Re-emergence of the Fastball Special

Dry Fart Battlecry

Re-emergence of Pathfinder rules

*NO MIND WHAMMIES FOR YASHA

Lucien legendary actions

SMITE

The awesome strategy work of the Nein as a team supporting each other

Lone mini camera angle shot

Meta Pigeon conversion

"I only have a ring of FIRE RESISTANCE!!!"

*New Spell: HARM

"From my angle your dice are very sparkly."

Mustach Shaming

"ARE YOU WATCHING YASHA?!"

"I'm a one wolf wolf pack"

The cast making their own music when it crashed

Otis and Veth fighting over hiding behind Fjord and ending up stacking on top of each other

*Jester casting HEAL on Fjord

Gelidon fleeing but the Nein STILL fight chasing her

Yasha’s lance

Comedic timing on Beau getting smacked with the tail

Snow angel landing

Fjord's little public kiss plus Jester’s and Veth chat: "That was the first time..."

Curtain of fire so Jester can 'pee', then Sending while actually peeing.

Roll for bags

*Tiger Blood gift from Veth resulting in a Matt Mercer gigglefit

Dagen headed off to meet Essek

Mind Palace Forest

Essek = Distant twinkling star of safety and familiarity WILDMOM APPROVED

Double Commune

ARTIE!!! All that sass and beautifully, perfectly useless

Laura's dinosaur sweater and Marisha assuming the chair perched pose

FRUMPKIN'S MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

THEY MIGHTY NEINED US

Stealth Team Owls GO

Clutch Caduceus perception with Beau’s goggles

Cool Monk Shit

Zorgon

Taliesin arguing about Lucien's bloodhunter abilities

*Owl!Yasha diving and saving Beau right out of Lucien's literal grip

'Arms of the Angels' sung for the second time

Lucien vs Caduceus

Matt freaking out over how much damage Lucien did or could have done to Caduceus: Shit got real after that

Stress Level Midnight on the party and cast during the standoff

Referencing Campaign One in a time of severe stress: Raishan Fight after Thordak Fight when most of Vox Machina was Level 16 and two characters were killed

Referencing the Home Game in a time of severe stress

F U B A R (for those who are unfamiliar FUBAR is an anagram that stands for 'Fucked Up Beyond All Reason')

Being able to tell how stressful the situation is by how hard the cast gets on hammering the rules and strategy

"Thats Matt being worried for us as friends..."

YASHA’S CLUTCH WING BAMF

Veth's Phantasmal Force spell and Caduceus' Shield of Retribution

"We're together now. No matter what happens at least we're together."

Matt's "Oh God" whenever he knocks over a mini

COUNTERSPELL COUNTERSPELL COUNTERSPELL

Mammoth Owl Halfling Padlock mad dash retreat

The anti-magic cone barely hitting the mammoth's butt

Major Image Gelidon

The whole party's new hatred for Otis

"Twig boy in a barbarian's arms..."

THEY LIVED

*Empire Kids managed to keep their aquired Eyes secret from Lucien

NUMBER CHECKED OFF ON MANIFEST LIST: 6.5

I'm only gonna count the breakfast 'Om nom noms' as a half cause it wasn't described what was for breakfast beyond the waffles

Jester casting HEAL on Fjord and Owl!Yasha saving Beau both count towards ship partners protecting each other in battle

I called that fucking dragon. But I pretty much have had dragon on the manifest list for awhile...

HARM is technically a 6th level spell but it can be cast as a 7th so I'm counting it.

Holy heck what an episode. . .

. . .

Hey. . . hey you guys. . . Guess where we're going?

Vurmas Outpost

Dare I hope. . . Dare I dream. . .

[nochiquinn]

mighty nein vs vox machina battle royale: for fuck’s sake

oh this is one I'm not gonna be able to look at the screen for

don't join them in the chat

apocalyptic fun buns

all the art is v v good

ready for taliesin to forget which accent goes where

I enjoy the "made possible by viewers like you" in the corner

mala: we paid 3 million dollars for these outfits

veth from somewhere in the distance: "I'mma fuck it"

taliesin hot potato

if they both touch it at the same time there's a 0.00028% chance of getting caduceus instead

thunderorgy

matt trying to rein in the collective horny energy of this group

(good luck)

BIGSBY'S HAAAAAAND

the magic of video editing

"the boots of haste LAURA BAILEY"

oh this is the level 20 battle royale again

Ride the Hand

does fjord have the ring of fire resistance

jester's been learning from caleb

PERCIVAL

ahh I missed percy's voice

"vex isn't here, he's all mine" liam

mala: Liam still going for the orgy end

"does waterbreathing work in lava"

MY BOY

laura: "did you mean hot? I think you meant hot."

FIRST BLOOD

"just for fun" he's dead

NO MERCY PERCY

I heard "I'm going to use a bonus accent" and yes you probably are sir

fgjlskdf literally moving him across screens

dramatic fucker

liam you ONLY made that comparison to fuck with travis

"RUDE"

liam can you even see the dice through that thing on your face

rogues are whatever

this music is Good

"I cast thunderstep" "oh! I cast counterspell"

liam and marisha clapping in unison

he's stuck in percy's accent lmao

I missed literally everything molly did, cool, thanks child

ugh I'm completely lost now

rip fjord

"don't go over there, it sucks over there"

"is that technically a teleport" "yes" "AHAHAHAHAHA"

"let's have some fun" he's dead

SDLKFJSLDK

oh good maybe I can get back on track after the break

guiding beau up the butt

I can't believe marisha killed liam in the parking lot

liam can't use his tablet with his apocalypse glove on

lmao taliesin putting the glasses back on

"what's back up? oh, your bullshit?"

"I'm trying to limit the number of dumb fucking things I do in this game" for the first time ever

taliesin: [laughs menacingly]

DINOSJAUR

"you sound like me when I was in the second grade" aw, matt

the giant mug with the equally giant crazy straw is killing me

they wouldn't let sam drink from the flask again but the mug IS labeled "biohazard" so it's pretty much the same

no wait I got the flask and the stein confused, is that THE stein? bc in that case the biohazard tape is required by law

"the winged man in dark clothing"

tal that laugh was horrifying

FIRST BLOOD

"my butt was exposed just a little bit, just in case”

"oh you're one of those rich boys!" "oh yes."

oh good, I wasn't the only one getting ben franklin vibes

"the gayest ben franklin" "so just ben franklin"

"this is the best view I've had all pandemic" liam

percy's starting to take this personal

percy: you CATCH miette's bullets??? you NEGATE miette's damage????

marisha: why are you helping him???

oh right, she Hurt Scanlan in front of Vax

"you're throwing it? you fool. you absolute imbicile."

"you're the person in the back with a sniper rifle" ah. me.

"I'm pulling out Bad News - " "And loading a health potion into it and shooting it into my leg?"

samuel

FIRST BLOOD

SECOND BLOOD

ah, travis learned from sam. horrifying.

scanlan is an among us ghost

"I'll catch you!"

I enjoy the mental image of travis holding the back of laura's shirt to stop her fucking up a little league ref

protecc

he protecc, he attacc, but most important, he have pike as snacc

vax disappears into the void

"I want to be buried in this"

laura bailey is the most dangerous member of the mighty nein

"how did you MISS he was THREE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU"

sarenrae slapping pike's hand away from the hot radiant damage stove

"are you arguing with a ghost" that's percy's whole personal arc

Feathered Fuck

Campaign Three No Monks 2021

(Campaign Three All Monks 2021)

mala: once again Marisha is op its not the class, its her

travis said very near the beginning "we should animate this" and I love that that's his reaction to every cool moment now bc it is also mine

marisha: where'd you hide it, vax? liam: up my dick sam: joke's on you, he's got three dicks liam: dagger dagger dagger~

someone also said "action action bonus action" and I THINK it was liam but that took too long to type and I forgot

ashley going after that die only for it to betray her

also what I assume among us ghosts are doing

sdkljflsk vax just staring at them in horror

at level fuck it

"sorry liam this is your table" "that's okay, I'll just take a shit under yours"

I forgot how pissy liam gets when vax isn't doing well

like specifically as vax, he gets like me when the internet is slow

scanlan flipping sides

"this is twice marisha has killed me in battle royale"

"with vax going down" huehuehue

I enjoy that they're just confirming polymachina all over the place

he really did hide it up his dick

tbh I kinda figured it was gonna go this way. tm9 is fresh in their minds.

"you're such an asshole!" "I'm dead!"

vax just putting the gem on the ground and hoping it looks like all the other rocks

"you ASSHOLE you shot me SO MANY TIMES"

"I am alarmed that he is standing so well"

WAIT

PART TWO??

PART TWO WHEN

[jeannedarkterraguard]

Wow apparently i forgot to actually post this and just saved it as a draft...

Anyways here are my Critical role c2e133 thoughts: (written as i was watching)

-i think Sam finally snapped this ad is crazy

-there's a critical role card game?!? I NEED THAT!!!

-immediately jumping into combat! Great

-the Monster is named randal?... oh i get it

-caduceus' been with them forever and Sam still doesn't know what bless does

-combat dunamancy is awesome

-you're telling me the cold Monster lizard of coldness that literally breathes ice is immune to cold damage? I can't believe it!

-yasha with the hdywtdt. You love to see it

-they're right this does feel like it's too easy

-yep there it is

-is essek regretting teaming up with them yet?

-👉👉 pew! pew! will now be my verbal/somatic component for any ranged spell attack i use in any future dnd session i'm part of

-no! Not the mold!

-c(ape)leb is really worried for essek huh?

-i wanna know what that Text was!

-all this boobie talk does sound wierd even with context

-nice of the aeorians to leave the Lights on

-holy shit! Is aeor where the warforged came from in exandria?

-marisha's book-hat is out! I repeat: Marisha's book-hat is out!

-it's making me really an anxious to see them waste this much time exploring instead of setting the boobies and having at least a chance to long rest

- Veth: describing the casting in great detail.

  Jester: drawing a mustache on caduceus to cast a spell.

  Caleb: "i cast Fly on 3rd level"

-beau's been crushed by yashas thighs confirmed

-the levitate spell is grabbing jesters boobs. There's a lot of boobs in this Episode and i'm okay with that.

-i know it's a joke but i would totally get a critical role themed bad dragon toy... i don't know what that says about me.

-they're really gonna need to sleep now

-the boobies are set (but i personally would have kept the fluffernutter there too. that fire would attract the mold too wouldn’t it?)

-essek likes soup. This is vital information

-spatzee (actually called Spätzle /ˈʃpɛt͡slə/  ) are delicious. Also they’re technically not really noodles because... what am i talking about nobody cares

-wouldn't it be hillarious if the beauyasha date setup was still there when essek stepped into the tower for the first time

-lisa literally just screamed "Oh my god just kiss already" at the screen. I don't think i've seen her this exited since the beauyasha date. she’s such a dork (don’t tell her i said that)

-double 1s on heroes feast :(

-a kiss and a slap on the ass. The perfect way to go to sleep

-oh shit the tomb takers are here

-fjord just sacrificed those rangers. Not what i would have done but i get why he did it.

-it's happening the boobies gone off

-lucien is pissed

-have they really killed three of the tomb takers just with the boobies already?

-this fight is so stressful

-did i hear that correctly? Lucien just burned two legendary actions to set the antimagic-cone on fjord. Leaving himself open to any magic coming from the rest of the nein. That could really backfire on him...

-okay i take it back lucien isn't that stupid. Fjord could've (would’ve) counterspelled the dimension door.

-veth really hates otis. And so do i.

-so quick summary: jester has 1 spell slot left. Caleb is also pretty tapped. I think the same goes for caduceus. But beau, yasha and veth should be fine and essek has gotten a full rest thanks to his trance meaning he's perfectly fine. On the other side we have three dead tomb takers another one at least injured and lucien is also not at full health after taking the guiding bolt, right?. I think the mighty nein could definitely do this if they manage to get through this rubble quickly.

-Oh my god i’m tired this episode took forever

[terezis]

imst begging u....... can i get a warlock class with taako as the patron........ otherworldy being of (questionably) immense power...... hes technically an alien so like........ if not thts ok i just Love these warlock classes

ok but only if he’s angus’s patron, he will teach the little man magic but in return angus must do his “dark bidding.” whatever that means

— PATRON: THE MAGICIAN —

Chef. Wizard. Minor daytime television celebrity. Interplanar hero at large. Your patron is fickle, capricious, and oftentimes cold, but he dons each of these roles like a well-worn hat and saves the multiverse seemingly on the reg. He’s been there, done that, and also probably stolen some souvenirs for the road.

A being as traveled as your patron must be well-versed in arcane secrets and knowledge untold.Ain’t no big… that is, unless you think so, in which case autographs (and previously unheard of alien magicks) start at twenty gold :)

Expanded Spell List: The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

1ST LEVEL; Disguise Self, Magic Missile2ND LEVEL; Mirror Image, Suggestion3RD LEVEL; Blink, Counterspell4TH LEVEL; Fabricate, Polymorph5TH LEVEL; Mislead, Transmute Rock

HAUTE COUTURE

Your patron has gifted you a fanciful hat because he thinks you are “a huge nerd” who needs to “step up your fashion game” so that he is no longer “embarrassed to be seen in public with you.“ When worn, this hat grants you advantage on Charisma checks made against humanoids that can see you. 

You have disadvantage on Stealth checks made while wearing your hat.

WINE AND DINE 

At 6th level, you may cast the spell Create Food and Water once per long rest without expending a spell slot. 

Anyone who consumes a meal cooked by you with the conjured ingredients must make a Wisdom saving throw; on a failure, they become charmed by you for the next eight hours or until you attempt to cause them harm, whichever comes first. 

When the effect ends, the creatures know they were charmed by you.

PHONE A FRIEND

Starting at 10th level, you may cast the spell Planar Ally as a ritual. If the otherworldly entity you beseech for aid is your patron, you can choose to make a Persuasion check; if convinced, your patron will send a mutual friend or ally and the required payment for any requested task or service is waived. 

On a failure, he will send the first name he sees while scrolling through his Stone of Farspeech contact list, and payment for all services rendered will be required upfront in full.

BE GAY, DO CRIMES

At 14th level, you gain the ability to steal arcane knowledge from another spellcaster.

Immediately after a creature casts a spell that targets you or includes you in its area of effect, you can use your reaction to force the creature to make a saving throw with its spellcasting ability modifier. The DC equals your spell save DC. On a failed save, you negate the spell’s effect against you, and you steal the knowledge of the spell. For the next hour, you know the spell and can cast it using your spell slots. The creature can’t cast that spell until the hour has passed.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

—

See also: Lup, Kravitz, Barry

[inventors-fair]

Color and Conflict: What do you want?

You can’t have everything, unfortunately. Not at a reasonable level. If you’re drafting some BW Vampire deck in Ixalan limited, you can’t readily get yourself a dinosaur subtheme. If you’re riding the Izzet train hard, going for a little Golgari isn’t a good idea. The color pie is, indeed, separated for a reason, because that’s how the games work. The colors fight using their strengths. Usually. We try to lean in that direction, anyway.

Now, because the DailyMTG site is broken, the most recent article on the color pie I could find is from 2017, and honestly, it’s fairly comprehensive and a good place to start:

The gist is that every color has its weaknesses and its moments of weakness, but this week's contest is to overcome that weakness—or at least a moment where that weakness is exemplified in the strength of other colors. What does that look like?

White, for example. Its "enemy" colors, Black and Red, do a lot of things that it doesn't like. Life loss, for example, negates its desire to heal. Abilities like menace mean that the blockers white has, all the little guys, get used up fairly fast, and White has to spend more resources to catch up. This especially hits hard with discard spells, one of Black's trademark strengths, and Red's cheap mass-burn spells like Pyroclasm, which take all the weenies and roast them thoroughly.

But when do these colors grow the strongest? It's not in retaliation, but in their own strengths. Black forces resource use, then builds up its own little arms of strong, hard-to-block denizens. How does White fight against that? Red's going to burn fast and furious against a board that can't get built up as fast as lightning can zap the life directly. What is White going to do to stop that from happening before it's too late?

The focus of this contest is to take a moment of conflict and turn the tide of battle. Think back to a game you've played before against an opposing set of colors. Limited is the best place to start for this and the place where elegant designs are definitely going to be best conceived. What strengths did you pull out against these colors? Maybe not even a moment where you were going to die, but a moment when another strength was being exemplified against you. What strength in your deck did you bring against that? Did you win? Even if you didn't, how did it feel to turn that around?

The most important part of this contest is to know where your limits are in your colors. Green is probably going to be the starting point for a whole lot of broken designs, as it has been in the past. Multicolor cards are of course viable (and monocolor is really just good for illustrations of conflict) as long as they don't turn into Oko. Lifegain, removal, protection, board presence, and all the things that got him banned in so many formats under the sun. My goodness. A card designed to regain control cannot regain control in a way that's negligent to its colors. Maybe Black doesn't like Auras like Pacifism or Rest in Peace or Claustrophobia, but that doesn't mean it gets targeted aura destruction. Green might not fare well against counterspells, but it doesn't get instants that counter right back. Blue's lack of easily-growing common creatures isn't an excuse to make one just to stomp over a dinosaur.

Look at the gifts you are given in each color and each color pair. What do they do best, who are they fighting against, and why does it feel good? This is the time to bring out your "you weren't expecting THIS" theatrical reversal of fate. Most importantly, expand beyond your gut instincts. What kind of card are you making in relation to your goal? What is the pace of the game state you're envisioning?

This is a difficult and technical contest, but I believe you're all experienced enough players to know how to make that moment, big or small. A small mechanical moment with a flavor win is also something that captures that feeling. How does a water mage triumph over the fire mage? What does the necromancer say in response to the cathar? The feeling is the most important thing to capture here. It can be a hate-card, removal, strength, prevention, anything that makes you feel like a winner. Because you are.

@abelzumi

Submit here!

[raeynbowboi]

How to Play as Yugi Muto in DnD 5e

A long time ago, I made a build for the Dark Magician (I’ll leave a link [here].) At the time, I’d considered trying to make a build for Yugi, but since Yugi lacks any real powers of his own, there wasn’t really enough to go off of. But with new UA spells that prioritize summoning and new UA subclasses, the time has finally come to give Yugi his proper build. For this build, we are considering Yugi and the Pharaoh to be one character. We will also be treating this build as though Yugi has the Dark Magician as his Deck Master, a special feature used in some side content and video games where the Deck Master actually assists their duelist. So Yugi’s spell list will merge two primary conditions: summoning creatures to fight on his behalf, and spell effects of cards in Yugi’s deck, including one-off cards and less famous cards he’s used to fill out his Wizard Spellbook.

Yugi is an anime character. In the past, my general rule for anime characters is to make them Variant Humans. This is primarily because Anime Characters are stronger than normal humans and often have magical powers that make them not quite human. I’ll be using the Variant Human option, however Kalashtar also works due to Yugi’s split minds and resistance to psychic mind games. Halflings aren’t my favorite race to play, but Yugi is abnormally short, and the Pharaoh is uncannily lucky, so it can definitely work for their build. As a Variant Human, we’ll pick up the Lucky feat and give ourselves +1 INT and +1 DEX.

The Pharaoh is willing to kill Kaiba to win a children’s card game. Yugi is not. They average out to Neutral Good.

The Pharaoh was the King of Egypt. Obvious Noble Background is obvious.

Heart of the Cards

WIZARD    Order of Scribes. This ended up being a perfect storm. Firstly, the new UA batch of summoning spells primarily landed under the Wizard umbrella. So, this gives Yugi a nice variety of summoning options. But it gets even better once you look at your subclass abilities. The Wizardly quill is about the only thing that doesn’t really fit for Yugi, but everything else will. Awakened Spellbook grants the pages Yugi summons from a level of sentience. In Yugioh the cards house duel monster spirits, and Yugi’s grandfather taught him to value the Heart of the Cards, the very idea that Yugi’s deck is a sentient thing. This subclass technically talks about a bound book, but Yugi’s still channeling his magic and spells through his cards, so I’d consider Yugi’s deck a reflavor of his spellbook, thus he’s able to use it as his spellcasting focus. Yugi’s able to alter the damage type of a spell he casts. You could flavor this as classic season 1 Yugioh where nobody played by the rules, or as Yugi pulling a card out of his deck that he’ll never use in any other duel, which tended to be a common deus ex machina for him. Master Scrivener can allow Yugi to copy a card onto a scroll and pull it out of his butt whenever he wants. a fun cheeky way to mock his plot armor. It also casts at 1 level higher, meaning Yugi is one again breaking the rules because he’s the King of Games. Manifest Mind is where the Deck Master concept becomes more clear, as you can create a tiny spectral form of the Dark Magician fighting beside you, and really lets you fully embrace the partnership between Yugi and the Dark Magician in combat. Since this feature does specify using a tiny specral creature, Kuriboh is another good Deck Master monster for Yugi. Finally, One with the Word allows Yugi to swap places with the Dark Magician to avoid one or both of them from being killed. Yugi can also destroy some of the cards in his collection to bring him back to life if Dark Magician is on the field and his spellbook has the resources. This also motivates Yugi to want to collect as many cards/spells as he can, even if he doesn’t prepare them all or use them in his deck. If you really want to play up the roleplay aspect of this build and commit to the gimmick of playing as Yami, you could write spells on sheets of paper and treat them like an actual deck of cards. It’s really just for roleplaying purposes, and could make the game needlessly challenging, but it could also be a fun challenge to hope you draw the spell you need right when you need it. This could be as vague as just having a card that says “3rd level spell”, or as specific as having say as many copies of a specific spell as you have spell slots to cast it. As it’s just flavoring and roleplaying mostly, come up with your own fun ways to incorporate the deck aspect into a mechanic for gameplay and tell me your ideas. I’ll bet there’s many fun ways to make this character work in an inetersting way. 

King of Games

SUMMONING

Find Familiar Flock of Familiars Spirit Shroud Summon Fey Spirit Summon Lesser Demons Summon Shadow Spirit Summon Undead Spirit Conjure Minor Elemental Summon Aberrant Spirit Summon Elemental Spirit Summon Greater Demon Conjure Elemental Infernal Calling Summon Fiendish Spirit

SPELLS & TRAPS

Brain Control // Dominate Person, Dominate Monster, Enemies Abound Change of Heart // Charm Person, Charm Monster Lightforce Sword // Banishment, Plane Shift Magic Jammer // Antimagic Field Burning Land // Blight, Abi’s Horrid Wilting Magical Hats // Blur, Mirror Image Raigeki // Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning Trap Hole // Circle of Death Magic Cylinder // Counterspell De-Spell // Dispel Magic Heavy Storm // Whirlwind Spellbinding Circle // Hold Person, Hold Monster Swords of Revealing Light // Imprisonment Thousand Knives // Power Word Kill Mirror Force // Prismatic Wall, Wall of Force, Wall of Light The Eye of Truth // True Seeing Yami // Darkness Makiu, the Magical Mist // Fog Cloud, Cloudkill, Stinking Cloud Cursebreaker // Remove Curse Dust Tornado // Dust Devil Premature Burial // Animate Dead, Create Undead Ragnarok // Melf’s Minute Meteors General Magic // Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield Setting a Trap Card // Glyph of Warding Anime Protagonist Plot Armor // Wish

As a Wizard, our most important stat is going to be Intelligence for casting. Our Manifest Mind feature gives our Dark Magician our AC, so we’ll want a high Dexterity modifier to improve our Armor Class. Yugi is pretty hard to fool, so that’ll give us a good Wisdom score. Yugi is pretty good at destiny speeches and turning enemies into allies. We’ll give him a pretty decent Charisma score so he can persuade people to adopt his philosophies, or send people running into the shadow realm with his Intimidation. Our build prioritizes amassing strong minions between us and enemies, so we can neglect our Constitution a bit. That leaves our Strength stat to be ignored. Lifting all those small thin pieces of paper doesn’t exactly get Yugi ripped.

Name: Yugi Muto  Race: Variant Human Background: Noble Alignment: Neutral Good Class: Order of Scribes Wizard (20)

Base Stats:

Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 20 (+5) Constitution: 12 (+1) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 10 (0)

Saving Throws:

Strength: -1  Dexterity: +5 Constitution: +1 Intelligence: +11 Wisdom: +8 Charisma: 0

Combat Stats:

HP: 102 AC: 18*  Speed: 30 Initiative: +5 Proficiency Bonus: +6 Passive Perception: 14  Dark Vision: 0 feet

Proficiencies:

Acrobatics (+5) Animal Handling (+2) Arcana (+11) Athletics (-1) Deception (0) History (+11) Insight (+8) Intimidation (+6) Investigation (+5) Medicine (+2) Nature (+5) Perception (+2) Performance (0) Persuasion (+6) Religion (+5) Sleight of Hand (+5) Stealth (+5) Survival (+2)

Spell Slots

1st (4) 2nd (3) 3rd (3) 4th (3) 5th (3) 6th (2) 7th (1) 8th (1) 9th (1)

Yugi’s Deck

Cantrips    Firebolt    Frostbite    Lightning Lure    Message    Mind Sliver

1st Level    Charm Person    Find Familiar    Fog Cloud    Mage Armor    Magic Missile    Shield

2nd Level    Blur    Darkness    Dust Devil    Flock of Familiars    Hold Person    Mirror Image

3rd Level    Animate Dead    Counterspell    Dispel Magic    Enemies Abound    Glyph of Warding    Lightning Bolt    Spirit Shroud    Summon Fey Spirit    Summon Lesser Demons    Summon Shadow Spirit    Summon Undead Spirit

4th Level    Banishment    Blight    Conjure Minor Elementals    Summon Aberrant Spirit    Summon Elemental Spirit    Summon Greater Demon

5th Level    Conjure Elemental    Dominate Person    Hold Monster    Infernal Calling    True Seeing    Wall of Light

6th Level    Chain Lightning    Circle of Death    Create Undead    Summon Fiendish Spirit

7th Level    Plane Shift

8th Level    Antimagic Field    Dominate Monster

9th Level    Imprisonment    Wish

Features:

Arcane Rociety. covery. Regain 10 or less level 5 or lower spell slots on a short rest.

Awakened Spellbook. You can alter spell damage type and cast a ritual spell instantly once per long rest.

Lucky. 3 lucky points, add a d20 to rolls before you know the outcome.

Manifest Mind. Your spellbook projects a tiny spectral construct. Its HP is your INT + your Wizard Level and it uses your AC and saving throw die. It has darkvision at a range of 60 feet, sheds dim light at a range of 10 feet, and can pass through solid objects.

Master Scrivener. Copy a 1st or 2nd level spell from your spellbook onto a scroll. Use the scroll any time, and the spell is cast as being one level higher.

One With the Word. When you would die while Manifest Mind is active, purge spells from your spellbook whose level adds to 3d6. They can only be restored with a Wish, and are otherwise lost to you.

Position of Privilege. You belong in high society. People bend over backwards to accommodate you, and you can get an audience with other nobility.

Signature Spells. cast Summon Fey Spirit and Summon Undead Spirit once without using a spell slot.

Spell Mastery. Cast Mage Armor and Hold Person without spell slots.

Wizardly Quill. Less time and money copying spells into your spellbook.

A major downside to this build is that all of his summoning spells require a gold cost, but if you’re fortunate, your DM will be generous enough with the gold to support the costs of this build. Technically, this build really could work for any duelist, and there’s plenty of other yugioh cards that could translate to DnD spells, but we were focused on Yugi’s canon spell and trap cards. We’re also extremely reliant on summoning, so if Yugi can’t summon, he’s going to have a bad time, and the build won’t be so useful.

[finnskeeper]

Critical Role - Campaign 1 (Thoughts Machina): Episodes 57 - 68

AKA ~CALL OF THE (FEY)WILD ~ 

***MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CAMPAIGN 1*** 

ROFL, poor Matt. Taliesin keeps going to Victor for black powder, but he really has no one to blame but himself

I heart Victor so much. I also love watching the rest of the cast (mostly Liam) lose it

Vex: "I haven't gotten to wink in a very long time. It felt good."

Travis' reaction to the girls' talk is sending me

No joke: The Unmentionables was legit our band name when Rockstar first came out on XBox 360

ROFL @ Matt's Sun Tree voice. "Sun Tree A-OK"

OH SHIT IT’S REVERSE HANDS TIGER

Scanlan jumping off the balcony to save Vax gave me life

And then rolled max damage!

Any and all of them reacting to irl noises on set as in game effects always cracks me up

"I've known a lot of people with money, none of them are worth you."

The birth of Bidet

NO MERCY PERCY That title drop though...

Well, if anyone was gonna out-fae a fae, it was gonna be Taliesin

Oh, Trinket. Bud-dee. You take on that spectral bear. He's only twenty times your size.

Trinket gets an upgrade!

Vax in the Feywild: I'm gonna check out this music! It could be the theater! Nevermind the multiple warnings I've gotten! *is immediately charmed* Vax, 30 minutes later: Maybe we shouldn't check out every single thing we come across. Stay focused on the bow, people. Me: You know what that is? Growth.

Travis is COMMITTED to that petrification

Matt is so happy to be able to counterspell their shit right now. Fucking pixies.

MARISHA STOP ROLLING THAT DIE

The entire audience groaning in synchronized heartbreak as Matt references Atreyu and the Swamp of Sadness got me feeling some kind of way.

GARMELIE IS ARTAGAN?!? AMAZING

"For someone who hates the theater, you've made quite the show of this." MIC DROP

Oh man, I just had a thought. I really want Gilmore to be given the other barony in Whitestone. His smugness would be immeasurable.

RIP Tiberius Stormwind. Matt did an excellent job with this scene. Watching Taliesin during the reveal, and then watching the others react...heartbreaking.

FUCKING. FINALLY.

Liam rolling double Nat 1's to avoid a walk of shame...poetic cinema

Jesus Taliesin. What kind of pact have you made with an eldritch being to be able to roll like that??

THIS. IS. VOX. MACHINA!

Keyleth getting tossed out of the casino two minutes in is pretty on brand.

MEAT MAN

Of course Percy wins on his first roll at the casino. Of course he does.

THE MEAT MAN COMETH

Man Ank'harel does not agree with Scanlan at all

Matt whining indignantly at them to shut up after they laugh at his NPC...I have never related to that man more.

I love watching Liam enjoy Matt's NPCs.

Ke-teor. That's cute

Man was not meant to go that fast, Vax. Good gods.

What I want for episode 68: Robinson Crusoe What I will probably get: Muppet Treasure Island

Percy maintaining his hex on Ripley through a fucking bomb in his face is poetic

Orthax??

KYNAN?!?

Percy: "I'm sorry my issues have guns." LOL

Down goes the gunslinger (again).

And again...for good this time. That’s rough.

Leaving it there? coolcoolcoolcoolcool

Oh man, waiting a full week after that would have been TERRIBLE *clicks next button on YouTube*

Character Thoughts (As of Episode 68) Because Ranking Them is Now Impossible and I Give Up

Vax: I love those sexy, sexy paladin levels. The RP potential of a rogue turned paladin is so good. That communion scene was *chef’s kiss*

Keyleth: She is creeping up on number one, not gonna lie. High level druids are badass and Marisha does so well diversifying her selections to maximize the potential for damage and just fucking shit up. Also, her high fiving Vax after her confession made me LOL for real.

Percy: (I mean, is that fair? He’s technically not...whatever.) No Mercy Percy ftw. That title drop in Syngorn was probably my favorite moment of this little mini-session, but watching Taliesin gleefully play about in the Feywild was amazing. I mean, he’s a fae-being himself, so I should have expected that.

Vex: Excuse me. Lady Vex’ahlia, Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone and Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt. Now she has a title that befits who she always was on the inside. Her reaction to that title drop was so good, though.

Scanlan: The Meat Man Cometh. That entire spice escapade in Ank’harel gave me life.

Grog: He did not have a great time in the Feywild, but I LOVED Travis’ entire commitment to that petrification and his genuine frustration at not hitting anything, AND THEN HE FORGOT.

Pike: Poor Ashley, her work schedule keeps her from being with her friends (and they really, really need her now). I hope Pike gets to come back soon.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #37: Zhuge Liang (Lord El-Melloi II)

Have you ever been playing DnD and thought to yourself, “Combat sucks! Why can’t I just trap my enemies in a hellish mazescape, from which they will never escape”? If you have, that’s a little concerning, and also we’ve got a build you’re going to love. Today we’re building the pseudoservant that combines Waver Velvet with Zhuge Liang, creating a masterful magical maze-maker. 

As always, there’s a spreadsheet for the build, or you can check out the level-by-level breakdown below the cut!

Race and Background

Waver is definitely human, and we can assume Liang is too. Pseudoservants are always a bit odd though, so let’s make them a Variant Human. This gives you +1 in two stats (Intelligence and Wisdom), proficiency in one skill (we’re going with Sleight of Hand: you did steal that catalyst after all), and a free feat. Tandem Tactician from the new feats unearthed arcana lets you help as a bonus action, and your ability to help attacking creatures increases to a maximum of 15′. That’s the range the creature being attacked has to be in, not the creature you’re helping. Also, your help can work for two allies, if they’re targeting the same creature.

Waver is most definitely a Cloistered Scholar, gaining proficiency in History and Arcana. Learning about servants would definitely fall under both of those categories.

Stats

Your highest stat is your Intelligence: You’re a college professor and a famous tactician mixed into one body; you’re really, really smart. Next is Charisma, you clean up so well one of your nicknames is literally “Professor Charisma”. Third is Wisdom, because you can’t out-think your opponent if you don’t know they’re there. After that is Dexterity, followed by Constitution and Strength. You’re either an overworked college professor or an overworked child, and neither of those sound that powerful.

Class Levels

1. Wizard 1: A proper fate magus would probably be a mix between a wizard and sorcerer, but your power comes more from your studies than your bloodline. As a wizard, you have proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, Insight, and Investigation. As part of your first level you also get Spellcasting using intelligence as your ability and Arcane Recovery, letting you get back a number of spell slots whose level are equal to half your wizard level.

At this level, you can prepare three spells, but your book has six, plus three cantrips. Grab Gust, Create Bonfire, Absorb Elements, and Earth Tremor for some early elemental attacks, Magic Missile for the obligatory caster balls, Shield and Mage Armor for not dying, and Alarm and Message for tactical spells.

2. Wizard 2: You’re a tactician, and the best school to reflect that is War Magic. This gives you Arcane Deflection, which lets you channel your magic into a barrier to protect yourself. As a reaction after getting hit or failing a saving throw, you can gain +2 to your AC or +4 to that save. This burns through a lot of energy though, so the turn after using this you can only cast cantrips. You also have a Tactical Wit, adding your intelligence modifier to your initiative roll.

This level you also get Snare and Catapult, allowing you to trap your enemies and make the most of your surroundings.

3. Wizard 3: Third level wizards learn second level spells: you learn Aganazzars Scorcher and Warding Wind for more elemental attacks and defense.

4. Wizard 4: Your first ASI makes you a War Caster, giving you advantage on concentration saves, the ability to cast spells while holding weapons, and the ability to cast spells as an attack of opportunity instead of attacking them.

You also learn Control Flames and Maximilian's Earthen Grasp for more elemental fighting, and Darkness to confuse and hinder your enemies. And probably your allies as well.

5. Wizard 5: At fifth level you learn third level spells, like Bestow Curse and Counterspell. The former is technically part of your Noble Phantams, and the latter is just really useful, especially for you.

6. Wizard 6: At this level you gain Power Surges. These abstractions of power can be spent to deal half your wizard level in force damage to a creature or object when you deal damage to them as part of a wizard spell. You finish each long rest with exactly one power surge, and can gain more by ending spells with counterspell or dispel magic. You also gain a power surge from short rests if you don’t have any. You can only store up to your intelligence mod in surges, though.

This level, you get Dispel Magic (that other spell what works with Power Surge) and your first support spell Haste. Haste does a little bit of everything, but we’ll be getting more dedicated support options in a bit.

7. Wizard 7: Congratulations, you’ve got fourth level spells, specifically Confusion to disorientate enemies without blinding your party as well and Fabricate, letting you transform your environment into whatever would be most useful to you.

8. Wizard 8: Use your next ASI for your Intelligence, gaining more and stronger spells as well as more power surges. You also learn the spells Stone Shape, because running through your own maze is for chumps, and Wall of Fire, which is technically the first defensive structure you’ve gotten. 

9. You’ve got plenty of firepower now, and even some defensive spells, but we don’t have much to help out the party yet. Fortunately, your servant benefactor was also quite the inventor, so we can fix this by splashing in some Artificer levels. First level artificers get proficiency with proper armor and shields as well as tinkers’ and thieves’ tools. You also know Magical Tinkering, adding sensory effects to small objects, and another layer of Spellcasting using Intelligence as your ability. 

First level artificers can prepare first level spells from the artificer’s spell list, and also get two cantrips. You get Acid Splash to throw some potions around and Prestidigitation because most of your spells are about clever usage so why stop now.

10. Artificer 2: Second level artificers can Infuse Items. You can know four infusions, but can only use two at the same time. In this case, grab Enhanced Arcane Focus and Enhanced weapon for more offense, Enhanced Defense for the obvious, and the Bag of Holding if you don’t have one by now.

11. Artificer 3: You never were able to make the elixir of immortality when you were alive, but as an Alchemist you’re free to try again with some Experimental Elixirs. At the end of a long rest, you make a free elixir in an empty vial you have on hand. You can also make more at this time by burning a spell slot for each extra vial you want to fill. On creation, roll a d6 for each vial to find out what it does. A 1 creates a healing potion that heals 2d4 + your int modifier. A 2 creates a speed potion that adds 10′ to a creature’s walking speed for 1 hour. A 3 gives a creature +1 AC for 10 minutes. A 4 adds a d4 to every attack roll and saving throw a creature makes for one minute. A 5 gives a creature a flying speed of 10′ for 10 minutes. A 6 creates a potion that acts as an Alter Self spell for 10 minutes. Potions don’t expire until your next long rest. You also learn to make The Right Tool for the Job, allowing you to create artisan’s tools as part of your long or short rests. 

As an alchemist, you also get an extended spell list, including Healing Word and Ray of Sickness as artificer spells for you.

12. Artificer 4: Use your next ASI to maximize your Intelligence.

13. Artificer 5: You become an Alchemical Savant, and can add your intelligence modifier to spells cast with alchemical tools that heal or deal acid or poison damage. You also can prepare 2nd level artificer spells, which for you include Flaming Sphere and Melf’s Acid Arrow. Importantly, this includes one of the best supportive spells available, Enhance Ability. This spell gives a creature advantage on one kind of ability check for up to an hour, as well as extra bonuses if you choose Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution checks.

14. Wizard 9: Ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, including Wall of Stone. It’s still not really a maze, but we’re getting closer. You also get Passwall because what is and is not “a door” is a social construct, and you’re not about that life.

15. Wizard 10: You now have Durable Magic, meaning that while you’re concentrating you get +2 to your AC and all saves. At this level, you also grab Mold Earth and Immolation for another bit of elemental fun as well as Skill Empowerment to help your allies be all that they can be.

16. Wizard 11: You get sixth level spells here, including Contingency because planning ahead is kind of your thing, and Globe of Invulnerability to go with contingency.

17. Wizard 12: Use your last ASI to become Observant, adding 1 to your wisdom and 5 to your passive perception and investigation. You also learn how to lip-read. You can also Scatter your enemies if they get too close, and Move Earth lets you finally start making a proper maze, albeit very slowly. Or again, you can use this to get into places you’re not allowed by collapsing any wall between you and your goal.

18. Wizard 13: You can now cast level seven spells, and are finally able to use the best maze spells in the game. Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion lets you construct any maze you want so long as it fits within 50 10′ by 10′ by 10′ cubes, though the hard part is getting anyone chasing you to fall into it. My suggestion is building in a secret hiding spot by the entrance, and then trapping your “guests” inside once they follow you in. You’ll only get a day’s head start this way, but that’s still better than nothing. You also get Mirage Arcane, which has a much longer casting time but allows you to make a square mile of maze, anywhere you can see it. This one lasts a full 10 days, so it’s entirely possible anyone who gets stuck in here won’t be an issue for you ever again.

19. Wizard 14: Your last feature from war magic is a Deflective Shroud. Now using Arcane Deflection deals half your wizard level in force damage to up to three creatures within 60′ of you, literally turning your defense into offense. You also get a Delayed Blast Fireball for extra damage and a Wall of Force, in case you want to be sadistic and put an invisible wall in front of your maze’s exit.

20. Wizard 15: Your capstone level grants you 8th level spells. One of the biggest weaknesses of making mazes is that by this point most spellcasters have some sort of flight or teleportation. Maze fixes this by sending those annoying casters into their own separate plane of existence. You also can make a Mighty Fortress, with all the creative liberties of your mansion while also being much easier to force people into.

Pros: You have a lot of spells and abilities that can help on defense, offense, and supporting your other party members. You also have great AC for a caster, thanks to your artificer proficiencies, shield, enhanced defense, and Arcane Deflection. Finally, your unorthodox fighting style (sticking people in a maze and forgetting about them) can turn certain fights into non-issues.

Cons: Making mazes takes forever, both in the sense that they have multi-minute casting times and that you don’t really get the option until 18th level (or 13th if you save the artificer stuff for later). Mixing casting classes also means you miss out on ninth level spells, and you still have really low hp for someone who’s supposed to help out in a fight. Finally, a number of your spells don’t directly do damage, and need to be used creatively to be helpful. Whether your DM allows that kind of creativity can make or break the character.

Just try not to work yourself too hard, and things should turn out alright.

Next time: It’s Cu! Again!